Economy
Corona has caused huge economic damage
A new analysis provides information about the extent of the economic damage caused by the Corona crisis in Germany. Photo: Marcus Brandt/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
According to an analysis by the German Economic Institute, the loss of value added is around 350 billion euros.
The corona pandemic has caused huge economic damage in the past two years. The Institute of German Economics (IW) in Cologne comes to the conclusion in an analysis that the loss of value added is around 350 billion euros.
A large part of this is due to losses in private consumption, partly due to lockdown measures. Even if the pre-crisis level of gross domestic product were to be reached again by the end of 2022, there would still be a “significant gap” in economic performance compared to if the pandemic had not existed, according to an IW short report. This was available to the German Press Agency. “Only with strong economic growth in the next few years can the gaps in value creation and income caused by the pandemic be closed bit by bit.”
The federal government expects weaker economic growth in Germany this year. As the German Press Agency learned from government circles on Friday, the government now expects gross domestic product to grow by 3.6 percent. In the fall, the previous government still expected growth of 4.1 percent this year. The forecast is part of the annual economic report, which is to be decided in the cabinet on Wednesday.
In 2021, the German economy grew again with 2.7 percent growth after the slump in 2020. However, the growth in gross domestic product reported by the Federal Statistical Office based on the first figures was lower than long hoped for.